How can I configure a domain-specific default browser?
Note that there is a difference between the text/html
mimetype
(this is opening actual HTML files)
and the x-scheme-handler/http
mimetype
(this is an HTTP URL).
I assume you want to customize how external applications open HTTP/HTTPS URLs,
since you mention domains.
(Note that this is for external applications.
Customizing how a particular browser handles an HTTP URL
is a different thing altogether.)
One tricky thing about custom URL handlers is that there are at least four files the associations might be stored in, depending on the application / library the application uses:
~/.config/mimeapps.list
(the right place to make changes)~/.local/share/application/mimeapps.list
(the deprecated location)~/.local/share/application/defaults.list
(the older deprecated location)~/.local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
(the cache)
I've been doing some work on custom URL handlers lately, so I've adapted some of that for this purpose. Here are the instructions:
Check the currently registered file for the protocols. Here's what they look like for me:
$ gio mime x-scheme-handler/http Default application for “x-scheme-handler/http”: firefox.desktop Registered applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop $ gio mime x-scheme-handler/https Default application for “x-scheme-handler/https”: firefox.desktop Registered applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop
Write a script that parses the URL and launches the appropriate browser.
I prefer to use Python, since it has libraries to parse URLs and send errors to syslog.
#! /usr/bin/env python3 import subprocess import logging import argparse import syslog import sys try : from urllib.parse import urlparse except ImportError: from urlparse import urlparse import os.path def http_url(url): if url.startswith('http://'): return url if url.startswith('https://'): return url else: syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_ERR, sys.argv[0] + ": not an HTTP/HTTPS URL: '{}'".format(url)) raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError( "not an HTTP/HTTPS URL: '{}'".format(url)) if __name__ == '__main__': parser = argparse.ArgumentParser( description='Handler for http/https URLs.' ) parser.add_argument( '-v', '--verbose', help='More verbose logging', dest="loglevel", default=logging.WARNING, action="store_const", const=logging.INFO, ) parser.add_argument( '-d', '--debug', help='Enable debugging logs', action="store_const", dest="loglevel", const=logging.DEBUG, ) parser.add_argument( 'url', type=http_url, help="URL starting with 'http://' or 'https://'", ) args = parser.parse_args() logging.basicConfig(level=args.loglevel) logging.debug("args.url = '{}'".format(args.url)) parsed = urlparse(args.url) if parsed.hostname == 'askubuntu.com': browser = 'firefox' else: browser = 'chromium-browser' logging.info("browser = '{}'".format(browser)) cmd = [browser, args.url] try : status = subprocess.check_call(cmd) except subprocess.CalledProcessError: syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_ERR, sys.argv[0] + "could not open URL with browser '{}': {}".format(browser, args.url)) raise
Adapt the script to your liking, particularly the executable for
brave
(I haven't used it, so I don't know) and the hostname in theif parsed.hostname
part.Test the script from the current directory.
This should open with Firefox:
$ ./http_url_handler.py 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/1161752/how-can-i-configure-a-domain-specific-default-browser'
This should open with Chromium:
$ ./http_url_handler.py 'https://superuser.com/questions/688063/is-there-a-way-to-redirect-certain-urls-to-specific-web-browsers-in-linux/'
Add the script to your
$PATH
so the desktop file can find it.I use a
bin
directory like this:$ mkdir ~/bin/
and add this to
~/.profile
(note you will need to log out and log in again to see changes):PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
and finally either copy or symlink the script to
~/bin
:$ ln -s $PWD/http_url_handler.py ~/bin/
If you did this properly, you should see this:
$ type -a http_url_handler.py http_url_handler.py is /home/nathaniel/bin/http_url_handler.py
not this:
$ type -a http_url_handler.py bash: type: http_url_handler.py: not found
Test the script from your home directory.
This should open in Chromium:
$ http_url_handler.py 'https://superuser.com/questions/688063/is-there-a-way-to-redirect-certain-urls-to-specific-web-browsers-in-linux'
This should open in Firefox:
$ http_url_handler.py 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/1161752/how-can-i-configure-a-domain-specific-default-browser'
Install the desktop file. Here's the one I used:
[Desktop Entry] Name=HTTP URL handler Comment=Open an HTTP/HTTPS URL with a particular browser TryExec=http_url_handler.py Exec=http_url_handler.py %u X-MultipleArgs=false Type=Application Terminal=false NoDisplay=true MimeType=x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https
Either via
desktop-file-install
:$ desktop-file-install --dir=$HOME/.local/share/applications/ http-url-handler.desktop
or manually copy the
http-url-handler.desktop
file to the proper directory, which should be~/.local/share/applications/
:$ cp http-url-handler.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
These are the most important lines in the desktop file:
Exec=http_url_handler.py %u MimeType=x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https
Make the desktop file executable.
$ chmod +x $HOME/.local/share/applications/http-url-handler.desktop
This is necessary because of a security precaution.
Register the desktop file with the
x-scheme-handler/http
andx-scheme-handler/https
mimetypes.$ gio mime x-scheme-handler/http http-url-handler.desktop Set http-url-handler.desktop as the default for x-scheme-handler/http $ gio mime x-scheme-handler/https http-url-handler.desktop Set http-url-handler.desktop as the default for x-scheme-handler/https
All this really does is change lines in
~/.config/mimeapps.list
under the[Default Applications]
group so that instead of this:x-scheme-handler/http=firefox.desktop x-scheme-handler/https=firefox.desktop
it says this:
x-scheme-handler/http=http-url-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/https=http-url-handler.desktop
You can also add it under the
[Added Associations]
group with a text editor so it looks something like this:x-scheme-handler/http=http-url-handler.desktop;firefox.desktop;chromium-browser.desktop x-scheme-handler/https=http-url-handler.desktop;firefox.desktop;chromium-browser.desktop
Some older applications use
~/.local/share/application/mimeapps.list
, but this is officially deprecated. However, thexdg-mime
command uses this location anyway:$ xdg-mime default http-url-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/http $ xdg-mime default http-url-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/https
There is also an even older deprecated file called
defaults.list
that is still used by some applications. Edit this file with a text editor:$ edit ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list
and manually add these lines:
x-scheme-handler/http=http-url-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/https=http-url-handler.desktop
under the
[Default Applications]
group.Check if it was successfully registered.
$ gio mime x-scheme-handler/http Default application for “x-scheme-handler/http”: http-url-handler.desktop Registered applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop $ gio mime x-scheme-handler/https Default application for “x-scheme-handler/https”: http-url-handler.desktop Registered applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop
If you also added to the
[Added Associations]
group, it will look like something like this:$ gio mime x-scheme-handler/http Default application for “x-scheme-handler/http”: http-url-handler.desktop Registered applications: http-url-handler.desktop firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: http-url-handler.desktop firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop $ gio mime x-scheme-handler/https Default application for “x-scheme-handler/https”: http-url-handler.desktop Registered applications: http-url-handler.desktop firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop Recommended applications: http-url-handler.desktop firefox.desktop chromium-browser.desktop
Check
xdg-mime
also.$ xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/http http-url-handler.desktop $ xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/https http-url-handler.desktop
Test some URLs.
This should open in Chromium:
$ gio open 'https://superuser.com/questions/688063/is-there-a-way-to-redirect-certain-urls-to-specific-web-browsers-in-linux'
This should open in Firefox:
$ gio open 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/1161752/how-can-i-configure-a-domain-specific-default-browser'
Now test the same URLs with
xdg-open
:$ xdg-open 'https://superuser.com/questions/688063/is-there-a-way-to-redirect-certain-urls-to-specific-web-browsers-in-linux/' $ xdg-open 'https://askubuntu.com/questions/1161752/how-can-i-configure-a-domain-specific-default-browser'
Update the mimeinfo cache.
Some applications read
~/.local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
instead of~/.config/mimeapps.list
. So update the cache:$ update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/
For convenience, the files are on Github here:
https://github.com/nbeaver/askubuntu-custom-http-url-handler
What you want is very easy, you are just approaching it from the wrong angle.
Create a script (just change mozilla and chrome to full paths of google-chrome and brave.
#!/bin/bash
# Reading argument values using loop
isFound=0;
for argval in "$@"
do
#echo -n "$argval "
if [[ $argval == *myemployer* ]]; then
isFound=1;
break;
fi
done
if [[ isFound -eq 1 ]]; then
mozilla $@;
else
chrome $@;
fi
and save this shell script (with the changes as selectBrowser.sh
Next, in this shell script as the default browser.
Done.